All whimper, no wham!

TENERIFE’S long-suffering fans are all too familiar with sudden nose-dives in form, but this goal-less draw with relegation-haunted Almeria really put the boot in.

True, it wasn’t a fourth straight defeat,. And Yes, the defence stopped leaking goals. But it was a depressing, soul-less performance that smacked of end-of-term relief coming early.

Another poor-quality referee didn’t help their cause. but Tenerife showed little hunger for a win. And they had keeper Dani Hernandez to thank for a superb double save in the final minute, which saved a point.

Casadesus headed over from a Luis Perez cross after 10 minutes, but it was downhill all the way from then on.

The team pretty much pick themselves these days, because of the club’s long-term injury problems.

Their forward line was paper-thin, while the midfield was quiet and lacking ideas. The only attacking flair came from adventurous runs by full-backs Luis Perez and fit-again Camille.

Suso had a couple of early spurts, which lacked sharp finishes, and Alberto looked strangely tame in the tackle.

Almeria keeper Rene had an easy afternoon, although his defence exposed him with a poor clearance, late in the first half. And Carlos Ruiz hammered the ball into his net, only to receive a borderline, offside call.

Luis Milla had a shot deflected wide, and there was a hopeful penalty claim for a sliding, defensive tackle on Camille, when the ball hit the tackler’s hand.

But these were just brief islands in a sea of boredom, and, surely, it had to get better, didn’t it?

Almeria needed something from the game desperately to stay just above the trap door, and they had a good go at the start of the second half.

Marreh had a slow shot covered by Dani, and Fidel smashed his shot high over the bar. Malbasic swapped with Alberto to try to stir Tenerife, and he attempted to squeeze in a shot along the ground, but he wasn’t quick enough.

The big striker did better with his build-up for another shot, only to be fouled by Trujillo. It was a much stronger case for a penalty, but not enough to budge the ref.

The arrival of Paco Montañes, for Alex Mula, hardly caused any ripples. He went through the motions, and he wasn’t the only one!

Nano, a big, bruising forward, who was Almeria’s best hope, tested Dani twice more, but the home keeper was on his best form.

Juan Carlos, given a run-out in place of Suso, with just over 10 minutes left, managing a weak shot before blending in with his team-mates.

Bryan Acosta had already picked up one booking, and when he upended Pozo, his second yellow card upgraded his punishment to a dismissal.

The 11,378 crowd were praying for the final whistle to end their suffering, as Nano burst through and shot at Dani from close range. The keeper got a touch to the ball on one side of him, and twisted back to stop the rebound on the other side.

Tenerife are now 11th, and seven points from the promotion play-off spots with four games to go.

But hope has run screaming up the street, and there’s a slight edge of despair creeping in as the season grinds to a halt.

On Saturday, Tenerife are away to Reus Deportivo, kick-off 7.30pm, with Acosta suspended.

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on May 11 2018. Filed under Sport.
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